MRC National Institute for Medical Research, London
Science for Health
Schools’ Day 2010
The theme of the 2010 meeting was 'Modern cell biology'. Every step in biomedical research depends on an understanding of cell biology. Structure and function are intimately connected. Four decades of phenomenal advances have made our conceptions of cell organisation extremely sophisticated and complicated because the mammalian body has hundreds of cell types, all with distinctive functions. Our intention in 2010 was to illustrate in four presentations just how diverse the contribution of cell biology is to other key topics in the life of science.
Talks
- Michael Sargent introduced the proceedings with a brief description of NIMR, an outline of the programme and a showing of the spectacular animation "Inside the cell" (Studiodaily).
- Nicola Hellin talked about Protein secretion in mammalian endothelial cells and introduced the audience to the new microscopic techniques that contribute so much to this subject.
- Jeff Cloutier discussed Gametes and stem cells, introducing the audience to the extraordinary specialisations of sex cells and the emergence of pluripotent stem cells
- Ed Bracey spoke about Neurons; the versatile wiring of the nervous system. Discussing the remarkable cells that become the nervous system Ed showed how modern neurobiologists study the capacity of neurons to form networks that respond to stimuli.
- Pavel Tolar introduced the Cells of the immune system and the extraordinary specialisation that allows the immune system to mount a response to almost any chemical entity and pave the way for destruction of microbes that invade the body.
Our visitors interrogated the speakers very effectively about the subject and their careers and we suspect went away feeling they had contributed to the success of the meeting. In two days we had about 370 participants, a full house.
In a break for refreshments, our visitors had the opportunity to see aspects of the development of various animals including the chick embryo and to inspect posters illustrating topical issues in biology including the recent Nobel prizes for the discovery of “Green Fluorescent Protein” and telomeres and also recent developments in gene and stem cell therapy. There was also a challenging quiz, based on material on show (with prizes).
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